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h1b RFE

How to Find the Right Credential Evaluator for an H-1B RFE

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

It’s RFE season! Amongst the most common H-1B RFEs applicants receive this time of year have to do with education.

H-1B visa eligibility is dependent on be beneficiary having an advanced degree with specialized skills and knowledge necessary to perform the specialty occupation they were hired for. This means the beneficiary must have a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its foreign equivalent in a specialization that exactly matches their job offer. Due to the specificity of these requirements, even if you, or your employee or client did submit a credential evaluation along with the initial petition, the evaluation may not meet CIS requirements for this particular visa.

Finding the right credential evaluator to answer an H-1B RFE is the difference between success and rejection. The evaluator you want to work with can be found with these five questions:

  1. Do they offer a free review of the case?

An evaluator cannot know what services must be provided – or whether or not your education, or your employee or client’s education and work experience will even work for the H-1B visa at all – without reviewing your employment history, or your employee or client’s employment history and educational documents. You received an education RFE. Before you answer it, make sure you CAN answer it successfully with what you, or your employee or client has to work with, and what needs to be done to write the equivalency that will accurately meet H-1B education standards. If an agency or evaluator asks for payment before looking into what needs to be done, look elsewhere.

  1. Are they easy to work with?

The evaluator who you want to work with is one who wants to work with you. Answering an RFE means you have to collect a lot of documentation – some not so easy to secure – in a short amount of time. Don’t waste your time working with an evaluator who doesn’t answer your calls, your text, your emails, or your questions to your satisfaction. Being easy to work with also means they are affordable and offer rush delivery options. When it comes to credential evaluation agencies, you don’t “get what you pay for.” The best ones tend to be inexpensive.

  1. Did they ask about the visa?

A common cause of an education RFE is that the evaluator wrote the right evaluation for the wrong visa. Many evaluation agencies will write a standard evaluation of your credentials, or your employee or client’s credentials without regard for the particular, unique educational requirements for the H-1B visa. Educational requirements, as well as approval trends and standards surrounding what education and work experience can be combined to write an equivalency vary from visa to visa. For example, an H-1B beneficiary may combine work experience and college credit to write an acceptable equivalency to a US bachelor’s degree. Meanwhile, an EB2 beneficiary who tries to do the same thing will fail because for that particular visa the bachelor’s degree must be a single source. The evaluation must lend itself to the visa in question to be successful.

  1. Did they ask about the job offer?

Just like the particular visa requirements, the evaluation must also lend itself to the client’s job offer. In the past, CIS has accepted petitions in which the beneficiary holds a degree in a field related to the job offer. This is not the case anymore. Now CIS requires beneficiaries to have a degree in their exact field of employ. This is because H-1B visas are for beneficiaries working specialized occupations, with knowledge and skills specialized to their field. While an employer will look at a candidate’s education and work experience and see that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to work their job, if the degree is not in the field, CIS will require more evidence. If your credential evaluator doesn’t ask about your job, or your employee or client’s job, he or she does not understand this and you need to look elsewhere. If your degree, or your employee or client’s degree is in a mismatched field, a credential evaluator with the authority to convert progressive work experience in the field into college credit in that specialization is exactly who you need to be working with.

  1. Do the often work with RFEs, Denials, and NOIDs?

The credential evaluator you want is one who does not shy away from difficult cases. You, or your employee or client received an RFE, so you want to work with an evaluation agency with extensive experience answering them. It’s important to keep in mind that the roadmap to answering the RFE is NOT IN THE RFE ITSELF. Especially with RFEs like the Nightmare – which is virtually impossible to answer if you follow its instructions – guidance from those who know the terrain and can navigate it successfully is essential to success. Evaluators that work with these kinds of cases know what CIS is looking for in the documentation they request, know what triggers and RFE, and what works and what does not in answering it. These evaluators follow CIS approval trends, which change from year to year.

About the Author

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of TheDegreePeople.com a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a no charge analysis of any difficult case, RFEs, Denials, or NOIDs, please go to http://www.ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.

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Four Tips to Successfully Answering an H-1B RFE

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

an RFE is not a roadmap for success. USCIS is NOT trying to help you. Instead of looking at your RFE for answers, focus on H-1B requirements for guidance. If you, or your employee or client has received an RFE, here are four tips to successfully respond:

  1. Read the RFE thoroughly to understand what is being asked of you.
Sit down with your team, including an evaluator with experience working with RFEs for your client’s visa, read over the RFE word for word, and gain a detailed understanding of what is being asked of you, and WHY CIS is asking for the evidence requested. You only have one shot at responding to this, so you want to make sure you provide everything CIS is asking for at once, alongside a clear explanation of what it is and what is proves.
  1. Understand that sometimes the RFE materials requested cannot be provided.
Sometimes CIS requests evidence that cannot be provided in the time allotted to respond, or within the constraints of the budget, or sometimes even not at all. RFEs like the Nightmare RFE are virtually impossible to answer based on what is asked. With this in mind, it’s important to go back to the H-1B requirements and use these guidelines as the framework for your response. Work with a credential evaluation agency with experience responding to these kinds of RFEs because they understand the underlying questions CIS is seeking to answer in the evidence they are asking you or your employee client to provide. Sometimes you can’t meet the demands of the RFE. Even if providing the requested evidence is virtually impossible, answering the underlying questions is very much possible. In this case, all you have to do to respond successfully is to meet H-1B regulations, if handled properly.
  1. Understand H-1B education requirements.
Every work visa has different educational requirements, and different rules surrounding what education can be combined for US equivalency. For example, an H-1B visa requires beneficiaries to hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its foreign equivalent in the exact specialization of the beneficiary’s job position. If you or your employee or client has a foreign degree, or a degree in a mismatched specialization, you need a credential evaluation that clearly shows the value of your education and work experience, or your employee or client’s education and work experience in terms of US academic value. On top of that, you need to do this according to CIS approval trends for this particular visa. For example, a three-year bachelor’s degree from India needs a credential evaluation that converts years of work experience into college credit to account for the missing fourth year even if your degree, or your employee or client’s degree had the same or greater amount of classroom contact hours as a US four-year bachelor’s degree. Talk to a credential evaluation agency that works with professors with the authority to make the work experience to college credit conversion. Make sure the evaluator you work with has experience working with H-1B visa beneficiaries, RFEs, and difficult cases.
  1. MEET THE DEADLINE!
Make sure the RFE is answered by the deadline. Extensions are highly unlikely and filing after the deadline will likely result in the case being rejected. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.    ]]>

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Fall into an H-1B Education Trap? Fix that RFE!

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

The H-1B visa is a dual-purpose visa that allows foreign nationals to come work highly skilled jobs in the United States for long periods of time. This visa is highly desirable and laden with sneaky education traps that can tank your case, or your employee or client’s case in a hurry. H-1B eligibility requirements state that a beneficiary must hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its foreign equivalent, and to be a specialized occupation, the job must require such a degree as a minimum. Educational requirements as well as what constitutes sufficient evidence to prove US equivalence for a foreign degree vary from visa to visa. At the same time, CIS trends regarding what they will approve in terms of education, and what they will not approve change.

If you’ve received an RFE for an education situation, it means you’ve already fallen into an H-1B education trap. Don’t panic! The situation may be salvageable. Here is what may have happened:

The degree came from a college or university that is not government accredited.

Many institutions that provide a rigorous, quality education that fully prepare you or your employee or client for the specialty occupation he or she has been hired for are not actually government accredited. Two common examples of this situation are NIIT and Aptech. CIS will not approve unaccredited education.

The “college” degree is actually a high school diploma.

Yes, this happens. Attorneys: don’t listen to your clients when they insist that their high school diploma is a college degree. This tends to be an honest mistake that gets taken too far. Mistranslations, misunderstandings, and different educational systems from one country to the next cause a lot of confusion in this area. Different degrees are often called by the same name, which becomes a problem when transcripts and credentials are translated but not evaluated for academic equivalence. The H-1B visa requires a US bachelor’s degree or higher. A high school diploma does NOT meet these requirements.

If your degree, or your employee or client has a degree from an unaccredited college or university, or no bachelor’s degree equivalence at all, talk to a credential evaluator with the authority to convert years of work experience into college credit. You may be able to salvage your case.

The degree was not evaluated correctly.

If your degree, or your employee or client’s degree is from a different country with a different language, the transcripts must be translated into English and evaluated for US academic equivalence. Sometimes, documents do not get translated correctly, or they are only translated but never evaluated. Sometimes, they are evaluated, but incorrectly. Sometimes they are evaluated correctly, but not for the H-1B visa. This H-1B trap is becoming increasingly common because some translation agencies now offer a sort of one-stop-shop for translation and evaluation. Just like document translation, evaluation is a highly specialized field that requires extensive knowledge of international education, international trade agreements, CIS precedent decisions, federal case law, and various visa requirements. This is because some visas allow education and experience from different sources to be combined to show equivalence while others do not accept that combination but require others. This is also because some degrees exist in one country but not in another, and others don’t have a direct English translation. Some degrees don’t call themselves degrees but are actually the equivalent of post-secondary education. Simply translating documents from one language to another means understanding of the academic content is lost. A credential evaluator can identify where this occurs and fix it. Each evaluation must be conducted on a case-by-case basis.

Before you file your case, or your employee or client’s case, be aware that it may not be as straightforward as you think. Educational systems vary from country to country, and your degree or your employee or client’s degree may not be what you think it is in terms of US academic value.   At the same time, the right degree may be in the wrong field, or difficult to find a US equivalent degree for. Talk to a credential evaluator with experience working with H-1B visas and their RFEs. The evaluator you want understands the specific requirements of H-1B visas as well as CIS trends regarding these much sought-after visas.

About the Author

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of TheDegreePeople.com a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a no charge analysis of any difficult case, RFEs, Denials, or NOIDs, please go to http://www.ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.

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H-1B Education RFEs: Right Degree, Wrong Country – Right Degree, Wrong Field

Credential Evaluation, Visa Approvals

Among the most common H-1B RFEs this year – as in years past – are education RFEs inquiring into the education of the beneficiary. The reason is because this visa is heavily invested in the education of the beneficiary. This H-1B program aims to bring the brightest minds from around the world to work for US companies. Qualifying for an H-1B visa requires the beneficiary to hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its foreign equivalent. It also requires the beneficiary to hold a specialty occupation requiring specialized skills and knowledge. Thus, the beneficiary must have the right degree to be fully prepared to work their highly specialized job.

Many H-1B petitioners hold the right degree, but from the wrong country. Or the right degree, but in the wrong specialization. This does NOT mean these candidates do not meet the qualifications for the H-1B visa. It just means they need to go a step further to prove it. Oftentimes, those extra steps are not taken and instead of an Approval, they get an RFE.

Let’s take a look at the reasons why:

Right Degree, Wrong Country

A common RFE is triggered when a beneficiary has the right degree from a country that is not the United States. For example, if you, or your employee or client has a bachelor’s degree in biology from India, and a job in the field of biology that requires a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent, what CIS needs to know is whether or not your education, or your employee or client’s education covers the skills and knowledge necessary to perform the job. Since curriculums, education structures, academic content, and duration of programs differ between countries, CIS does not have all of the information to make this decision. Before you file, talk to a credential evaluator who can write a detailed evaluation of the academic content of your degree, or your employee or client’s degree, as well as experience working in the field of biology. This evaluation will show that even though this degree is not from the United States, you, or your employee or client is prepared with the specialized skill set and knowledge base necessary for the US job. These kinds of petitions filed without a credential evaluation are almost guaranteed to be met with an RFE instead of an approval. If this is what happened to you or your employee or client, it’s not too late to get the evaluation you need. Be sure when you talk to a credential evaluation agency that they understand the nuances of the H-1B visa requirements when it comes to education, as well as current CIS approval trends.

Right Degree, Wrong Specialization

Let’s say your bachelor’s degree, or your employee or client’s bachelor’s degree is in biology, but the job is in chemistry. With only that information, CIS has no way to know whether or not you or your employee or client has the skills and knowledge needed to perform the duties of chemist with a biology degree. The missing information is an evaluation of your education or your employee or client’s education and work experience. If you or your employee or client took classes in chemistry during college, those can be evaluated to count towards the right specialization. If you have, or your employee client has years of work experience in the field of chemistry in which he or she took on progressively more responsibility and learned new skills in the process, that can count towards the right specialization as well. Talk to an evaluator with the authority to closely examine the course content of your degree, or your employee or client’s degree, as well as the authority to convert years of progressive work experience in the field into college credit hours towards the right degree in the right specialization.

Both of these common education RFEs have to do with CIS needing more information about whether or not you or your employee or client has the skills and knowledge necessary to perform their job. With literally hundreds of thousands of petitions to sort through, CIS needs information spelled out very clearly and in an easily digestible fashion. At the same time, the person evaluating your petition or your employee or client’s petition is most likely not an international education expert with the extensive knowledge of different academic structures and equivalencies ready at their disposal. What they don’t know needs to be including in the initial petition, and if not then certainly in your response to the RFE.

About the Author

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of TheDegreePeople.com, a foreign credentials evaluation agency. For a no-charge analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://www.ccifree.com or call 800.771.4723.

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4 Common H-1B RFEs You Need to Know About

Credential Evaluation, Visa Approvals

It’s RFE season! With over one in every four H-1B petitions receiving an RFE in the past few years, there’s a good chance that one of those was sent to you, or your employee or client. While there are many problems associated with receiving an RFE – even more time, money and work invested in the petition, stress, a red flag that draws attention to the little details of your case, or your client or employee’s case that would have otherwise gone unnoticed – it is also far from the end of the world. It is also an opportunity to strengthen the case.

To successfully answer an RFE, you must sit down with your team and understand what documentation and evidence is being asked for, and what questions CIS is trying to answer with this evidence requested. Once you understand what questions CIS has that were left unanswered by the initial petition, you can take the next step to answering it. Providing the answer may not be so straightforward. In fact, many RFEs don’t actually have a solution in the wording. Talk to a credential evaluator with experience working with RFEs and difficult cases. They understand CIS trends, and what CIS is REALLY asking for when they request specific evidence which may or may not be possible or realistic for you to provide with the time and resources allotted.

Below are four common RFEs we have seen cross our desks more and more frequently in the past few years.

  1. Degree and Job Don’t Match
  2. Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree
  3. Job is Not Clearly a Specialty Occupation
  4. Degree Has a Difficult Equivalency

The H-1B visa is for foreign nationals coming to work in the United States with a bachelor’s degree or higher to work in a specialty occupation. No doubt, this is why we are seeing so many RFEs that deal precisely with these factors. Let’s take a closer look.

Education-Related RFEs

What is the foreign equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree or higher? This has proven a difficult question because educational systems differ greatly across borders. The two most common RFEs we have seen resulting from this have to do with degrees that don’t call themselves degrees or do not have a direct equivalent specialization, and Indian three-year bachelor’s degrees. If you or your employee or client has an Indian three-year bachelor’s degree, do NOT submit a petition without a credential evaluation or you will get an RFE regarding this. Although the Indian three-year degree tends to have more classroom contact hours than a US four-year degree, CIS requires you or your employee or client account for the missing fourth year to have an acceptable equivalency for the H-1B visa. Three years of progressive work experience can be converted into one year of college credit to account for this year. Talk to a credential evaluation agency with the authority to do this, and the knowledge of international education to provide the evidence to fortify this equivalency.

The Indian three-year bachelor’s degree is not the only difficult degree. Degrees without a clear US equivalency are often met with RFEs. One example of this is the Chartered Accountancy Certificate from India. This is a degree that does not call itself a degree, and due to the educational steps required to attain their certificate, it is the functional equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree in accounting. However, the US CPA and the Canadian Chartered Accountancy certificate are not functional equivalents to a US bachelor’s degree. You can see how this can get very confusing very quickly without a thorough evaluation that guides CIS through the functional steps of you or your employee or client’s degree.

Another education-related problem that triggers an RFE is when a specialty occupation does not have a major that fits it. In fact, the job that receives the most RFEs is Computer Systems Analyst. This is a very specific occupation that requires a very specific specialization – one that there are very few bachelor’s degrees in to draw an equivalency from. A credential evaluation that clearly spells out a functional equivalence – meaning what graduate programs, licenses or jobs having a particular degree or certification functions as a prerequisite for – of you or your employee or client’s degree is necessary for difficult degrees and difficult jobs. If you or your employee or client has a difficult degree, or a job that does not have a clear field specialization in terms of college majors, talk to a credential evaluator with an in depth understanding of international education. This kind of evaluator will know which degree to reference for the equivalency, and the steps in education required to earn a certificate in the country you or your employee or client completed their education in.

Job-Related RFEs

The two common job-related RFEs we see are the degree not matching the job, and CIS not having enough evidence to determine whether or not the job is a specialty occupation. A specialty occupation means that to perform the duties of the job at hand, the employee must possess specialized skills and knowledge unique to the position. This typically means that the position requires a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its foreign equivalent. If CIS issues an RFE seeking insight into whether or not your or your employee or client’s job is a specialty occupation, you can provide the ad for the job showing the minimum requirements necessary to perform its duties. Include ads for similar jobs in similar companies in the industry to show that these are typical requirements for such positions. If this job does require a level of expertise unusual to what the same job in this industry typically requires, include an expert opinion letter about why this particular position for this particular country, or in the particular geographic location is unique.

If the RFE arrived because your job or your employee or client’s job was not an exact match for the degree, this is also the result of the job being a specialty occupation. While most employers will hire employees with degrees in fields related to their job, in the past seven or so years CIS has made an approval trend shift and stopped approving these visas. CIS now requires the degree to be an exact match to the job to ensure that the employee has learned the specialized skills and knowledge required for their H-1B job. However, employers understand that skills and expertise can be learned through related degrees, classes taken in the field even if that was not the central major of the degree, and through hands-on work experience. This can be translated in CIS approval standards through a credential evaluation in which the evaluator takes into account the course content of your degree or your employee or client’s degree as well as years of progressive work experience in the field. Courses in the specialization of your job or your employee or client’s job can be evaluated to count towards a degree equivalency in that field, as well as progressive work experience. Three years of work experience in which you or your employee or client took on more skilled work and responsibilities as the job progressed can be converted into the equivalency of one year of college credit in that field. If you receive this RFE, consult with a credential evaluator about your education or your employee or client’s education and work experience to see what can be done.

About the Author

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.

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Don’t Fix H-1B RFEs – Avoid Them!

Credential Evaluation, Visa Approvals

More and more H-1B petitions are coming in each year for the same 85,000 annual visas. At the same time, we have seen a sharp increase in the prevalence of RFEs in response to these petitions.

Why You Don’t Want that RFE

An RFE is a tool that CIS uses to make a decision about whether or not a candidate’s visa should be approved. While receiving an RFE is an opportunity to strengthen your case, or your client or employee’s case – a second chance at providing all of the requested evidence CIS needs to approve the visa – it is also a big red flag. A glaring omission or error on the petition triggers CIS to take a closer look at it and may very well uncover small errors and inconsistencies that would have otherwise flown under the radar that you will now need to address. With so many petitions and so few visas available, CIS needs its red flags for short cuts.

While an RFE can be used to your advantage to build a stronger case for your visa, or your client or employee’s visa being approved, the roadmap to answering the RFE is not always so straightforward. In many cases, the RFE will not directly tell you how to answer it in its wording. One daunting example of this is the notorious Nightmare RFE that is virtually impossible to answer in the time allotted to answer it, and for a reasonable price. To address an RFE, sit down with your team – the lawyer, the candidate, the employer, and the evaluator – to see what is being asked and of whom, and what CIS really needs to know by the questions they are asking. If what they are asking for in the RFE is virtually impossible to provide, you may be able to answer their underlying questions with documentation and evidence that it is possible for you to provide.

Of course, the best option is to avoid an RFE in the first place. We’re coming up on autumn, which means it’s time to start preparing for the FY2018 H-1B season. Here are five measure you can take from the get-go to avoid an RFE.

  1. Show very clearly that your degree, or your client or employee’s degree is a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent. If the degree was earned outside of the United States, you will need to have your education, or your client or employee’s education evaluated by an authorized credential evaluation agency. If the bachelor’s degree is a three-year degree – ESPECIALLY if it is an Indian three-year bachelor’s degree – you need to find an agency with the authority and international education expertise to convert years of work experience into college credit to account for the missing fourth year.
  1. Check the answers on every document and form to make sure they are consistent. Inconsistent answers – even so much as a misspelling or the wrong graduation date – can trigger an RFE.
  1. The degree must be specialized. This means that if you, or your client or employee has a liberal arts degree, or a generalized degree, CIS will not approve the visa. H-1B requirements state that an H-1B candidate must have specialized skills and knowledge necessary to perform the duties of the specialty occupation to meet the visa requirements. Without a specialized degree, CIS cannot clearly see that you, or your employee or client meet these requirements. If this is the situation you face, talk with a credential evaluator about the course content of you or your client or employee’s college career and work experience. An authorized evaluator can convert classroom contact hours in a specialized field into college credit, and also convert years of progressive work experience into college credit that can count towards you or your client or employee’s specialized degree.
  1. The degree must be an EXACT fit for the job offer. Employers often hire candidates with a degree in a related field and work experience in the exact field or even a related field because the specialized skills and knowledge base learned through work and education meet the requirements of the job. When these qualified candidates go to file their visas, they receive RFEs. The solution? If your degree, or your client or employee’s degree is not an exact match for the job offer, you need a credential evaluation that evaluates course content and work experience, and makes the necessary conversions to count towards the correct degree equivalency with a major in the field of the specialty occupation.
  1. Clearly show that the H-1B job is a specialty occupation that requires a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent to carry out the duties of the job. You can do this by providing the ad for the job, documentation for similar jobs for similar companies, or with an expert opinion letter.

The best way to address an RFE is to avoid it. Don’t give CIS an excuse to pick apart your petition, or your client or employee’s petition. Tell them everything they need to know to make an informed decision about the petition the first time. We are seeing that if credential evaluations are submitted with the initial H-1B filing, a simple evaluation seems to be enough for CIS to approve the petition. However, with an RFE, a more complicated – and expensive – credential evaluation requiring more evidence, documentation, and even an expert opinion letter is almost always required.

Remember, an RFE is a big red flag waving high over the petition. Don’t wait for the opportunity to overturn an RFE to build a strong, solid case.

About the Author

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.

Don’t Fix H-1B RFEs – Avoid Them! Read More »

Who is at Fault for Your RFE?

Credential Evaluation, Visa Approvals

About one in every four H-1B petitions receive an RFE. The first step to answering an RFE is to understand what CIS is asking, who dropped the ball, and who can provide that information. Just because someone is at fault for your RFE, or your employee or client’s RFE does not mean you should fire them or find someone else. At this stage, it is often unwise to find a new attorney, evaluator, or employer for that matter. Sometimes it’s the candidate’s fault. Sometimes, CIS is at fault. Sometimes it’s no one’s fault. CIS trends change every year and it’s impossible to keep up with all of them. Sometimes, you do need to find someone else for the job.

Regardless, the first step to successfully answering your RFE, or your employee or client’s RFE is to discover why it was issued in the first place and who is to blame. Remain calm, refrain from pointing fingers, and ALWAYS remain solution-oriented through this process.

Sometimes No One is to Blame

In many cases, this is exactly the situation. CIS visa approval trends change every year and it is practically impossible for everyone to keep up on them – even CIS. The best you can do is to work with a team that follows CIS trends as closely as possible and do your best. Working with a credential evaluation agency that specializes in RFEs and difficult cases is advised because they understand what works and what does not. This will not always prevent an RFE, but you’ll know you are in good hands in any case.

Sometimes it’s The Candidate’s Fault

This is a hard but true fact. Oftentimes, a candidate will make a mistake, and if this is your situation, it’s time to eat some humble pie and move forward towards a solution. Candidates, did you make a mistake about the value of your degree, certificate, license or diploma? Did you provide poorly or even fraudulently translated documents? Did you provide poorly evaluated documents? Did you receive your degree from an unaccredited institution? Educational document errors and inconsistencies, as well as mistranslations can be picked up by a skilled credential evaluator, but sometimes that’s not the first agency you work with. Be honest with yourself and your team about your credentials, and find honest, well-trained translation and evaluation agencies to work with from the beginning. At the end of the day, candidates, your petition is your responsibility.

Sometimes it’s The Attorney’s Fault

Attorneys, did you file the petition incorrectly? Sometimes this happens. Find out what went wrong and what you need to do to fix it. At this point, it’s probably not worth it to fire the attorney unless a horrible mistake was made. Oftentimes, when the attorney is at fault it’s for the same reason that candidates may have been at fault: they worked with the wrong translation or evaluation agency and ended up submitting inaccurate documents. These problems can be addressed by working with credible translation and evaluation agencies. Just make sure you work with TWO SEPARATE agencies – one for translation and one for credential evaluation – as these are two highly specialized services that require very different and very specific sets of skills.

Sometimes it’s CIS’s Fault

It’s no secret that CIS makes mistakes. Sometimes an RFE may be factually incorrect. Your petition, or your employee or client’s petition could be absolutely spotless, filed perfectly, and filed on time, and CIS will still issue an RFE. While these RFEs are frustrating, they are also easy fixes because you already have all of the documentation and information you need at your fingertips.

Sometimes Your Evaluator – or the Evaluation itself – is at fault

Maybe it was your evaluator’s error that triggered the RFE. Maybe it was the evaluation that your evaluator wrote but not your evaluator. This may sound confusing, but it’s actually a fairly simple differentiation. The candidate’s visa requires a very specific evaluation to write the equivalency to the US degree that you, your employee, or your client needs to meet H-1B visa requirements, and in the field that matches the H-1B job. If your degree, or your client or employee’s degree was earned outside of the United States, or with a major that is not an exact match to the job, you need an evaluation written that converts years of progressive work experience into college credit to fill in the gaps between the degree and the job, or the degree and the degree CIS requires you, or your client or employee to have.

Not every evaluation agency can provide this. Some do not specialize in immigration and visa evaluations, and some don’t have the authority or cannot provide the evidence needed to back up a work experience conversion. Talk to potential credential evaluation agencies. They may be able to write an accurate evaluation, but it may be the wrong evaluation for the H-1B petition. If an agency does not ask about the job or the visa, look elsewhere. The agency you want is one that specializes in immigration and visa evaluations, and specializes in RFEs and difficult cases.

An RFE is a chance to strengthen your case, or the case of your client or employee. Sit down with your team to find out who – if anyone – dropped the ball, who can solve the problem, and how to best proceed.

About the Author

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.

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H1B RFE Season: How to Get Through Approved!

Immigration, Visa Approvals

It’s RFE Season!

If you receive an RFE, respond to it as soon as possible. Once you respond and CIS receives the answer, you may have to wait to find out whether or not your H1B petition was approved. You don’t have to be one of those people left in limbo. Respond ASAP and get the clock ticking.

RFEs have been on the rise for many years now, with around 25% of all H1B petitions receiving one. CIS education trends have grown much more strict, and if your bachelor’s degree is from the United States, or is in a field that is not an exact match for your H1B job, you must submit your transcripts with a credential evaluation. For degrees outside of the United States, this evaluation clearly spells out the value of your education in terms of US academic standards to write an equivalency to the degree you need for your H1B visa. This particular visa requires those who qualify to hold a US bachelor’s degree or its equivalent or higher. If your degree is in the wrong field – even if it is in a field related to your job – CIS is now issuing RFEs. In the past, you could skate on through with an approval with a degree in a related field, but since there are so many visas to sort through CIS has tightened its requirements. Now you must have a degree specialization that is an exact match for your job. If this is not the case, you need to have your degree evaluated for the academic value equivalency of the specialization you need. In both of these cases, progressive work experience – that shows you learned new specialized skills and knowledge through your work experience – can be combined to account for the missing academic content in the field required.

If you fall into one of these two academic categories and you did not submit a credential evaluation with your petition, you are likely staring down an education RFE. Don’t panic, it’s not too late. You made it into the lottery and your petition is still under consideration. Don’t waste time. Talk to a credential evaluation agency that specializes in RFEs and difficult cases. Get the credential evaluation and supporting documentation you need to answer your RFE and get your H1B visa approved.

What to look for in the right credential evaluation agency for your case:

  1. Easy to communicate with. They should answer when you call, respond to your texts and emails, and answer your questions with confidence.
  1. Follows CIS approval trends. The person you want writing your evaluation knows what CIS is looking for. CIS trends change, and an evaluation that worked last year may not work again this year. As in any job, the best professionals are the ones who keep on learning and changing with the industry.
  1. Works with RFEs and Difficult Cases regularly. You got an RFE. You want to work with someone who works with people in your situation and consistently achieves the outcome for others that you want for yourself.

Don’t let RFE season get you down. You are not alone in this, and there are plenty of helpful professionals who are happy to consult with you on your case. Good luck!!

About the Author

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.

H1B RFE Season: How to Get Through Approved! Read More »

Case Study: Difficult H-1B RFE for Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree – Approved

Case Studies, Visa Approvals

One of the most common education RFEs for H-1B candidates arrives when a candidate has a three-year bachelor’s degree from India. We get dozens of clients every season coming to us with this RFE because CIS sees the missing fourth year and assumes it to be missing academic content when compared to the US four-year bachelor’s degree. While international education experts argue that duration does not accurately reflect academic content, CIS is hung up on that missing year, and without the right credential evaluation submitted alongside this transcript, an RFE or worse can be expected.

What is the right credential evaluation for this case?

This credential evaluation must take into account the candidate’s job, the particular H-1B education requirements, and the candidate’s work history. The evaluator must be knowledgeable about CIS trends and precedents, and be able to cite the proper decisions, documentation, and evidence to back up each facet of this detailed evaluation.

What we do in this situation is to convert progressive work experience in our client’s field of employ into college credit. The two functional terms here are “progressive” and “in the field of employ.” Progressive work experience means that our client took on progressively more responsibilities and duties as time went on under this employment, implying that education took place through this job. In the field means that this work experience must be in the exact field of our client’s current H-1B job indicated in the petition. This conversion equates three years of progressive work experience in the field to one year of college credit. This is a fairly simple and straightforward way to account for the missing fourth year and yields a high approval rate when it comes to submitting the original petition, and for answering RFEs. We include documentation, expert opinion letters, international recognition for this conversion, and CIS precedent decisions in this evaluation.

If you, or your employee or client receives an RFE for a three-year bachelor’s degree, we can help you overturn it and get your client’s H-1B visa approved.

About the Author 

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800 771 4723.

Case Study: Difficult H-1B RFE for Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree – Approved Read More »

4 Problematic RFEs You and Your Client Need to Know About

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

  • Specialty Occupation
    • If it is not clear to CIS that your client’s job is a specialty occupation – one that requires a minimum of US bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent – this is the kind of RFE that will be issued. To answer this RFE, you must prove that your client’s job requires specialized skills and knowledge to perform that only comes once a certain level of education and experience is met. How can you do this? CIS will typically ask for the ad for your client’s job that indicates the minimum requirements necessary to perform. Include ads for similar jobs in similar industries to show that this level of education is necessary for this kind of job in this kind of industry and that your client’s job was not tailored to meet the visa requirements of your client. If this particular job DOES require an unusual level of expertise due to the nature of the company, provide an expert opinion letter and documentation showing why this job in particular requires an advanced degree.
    1. Degree does not match the job.
    In the past, CIS has approved visas for beneficiaries who had degrees in fields relating to but not precisely matching their job titles. In fact, employers regularly hire workers with degrees in related fields because the specialized knowledge and skill set required for the job are taught in certain related fields. However, CIS trends regarding this have changed in the past six or seven years, and now we are seeing RFEs for petitions that would have been approved before. Another reason your client may have received this kind of RFE is that they hold a generalized degree. CIS requirements state that a generalized degree without experience in the field is insufficient for H1B visa approval. If your client is in this situation, a credential evaluator can take a close look at the course content of your client’s education and convert classroom contact hours in the field into college credit that count towards a specialized major in the correct field. CIS will also accept years of progressive work experience in the field counted towards a major in the field. An authorized credential evaluator can convert three years of progressive work experience – meaning your client took on more and more responsibility as time progressed on the job – to one year of college credit in the field. These conversions will fill in the gap between your client’s education and the H1B job that trigger this kind of RFE.
    1. Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree
    One of the most common triggers for H1B RFEs is a client who has an Indian three-year bachelor’s degree. While these degrees tend to have more classroom contact hours than US four-year bachelor’s degrees, CIS requires the missing fourth year to be accounted for in order to accept the equivalency to a US four-year bachelor’s degree. If your client is in this situation, talk to a credential evaluator about your client’s education and work experience. Three years of progressive work experience can be converted into one year of college credit in the field to account for the missing fourth year. If your client has a three-year bachelor’s degree, NEVER file without this kind of credential evaluation. It will almost ALWAYS receive an RFE without one.
    1. Difficult Degrees
    Some degrees do not have a clear US equivalency, especially degrees that do not call themselves degrees. For example, the Chartered Accountancy Certificate from India can actually be evaluated to be the equivalency of a US bachelor’s degree in accounting because the steps in education require post-secondary equivalencies. At the same time, the US CPA and the Canadian Chartered Accountancy certificate are not bachelor degree equivalencies. This is confusing and needs extreme clarification when presented to CIS. For this reason, degrees such as this one are often met with RFEs. Sometimes, specialty occupations simply do not have degrees that clearly fit their field, such as Computer Systems Analyst. So many RFEs have been issued for H1B candidates with this job because it is unclear what degree fits this very specialized, very specific occupation. If your client has a difficult degree, or a job that does not have a clear field specialization in terms of college majors, talk to a credential evaluator with an in depth understanding of international education. This kind of evaluator will know which degree to reference for the equivalency, and the steps in education required to earn a certificate in the country your client completed their education in. If your client receives an RFE for an education or occupation-related situation, talk to a credential evaluator with extensive experience working with difficult cases, RFEs, NOIDs, and Denials. As evaluators who see these kinds of cases day in and day out, we understand what triggers them, what questions CIS seeks to answer in issuing them, and how to answer them. We do not charge to review your case before you file or if you get an RFE or Denial. As an evaluation agency with international education experts on staff, we have a clear understanding of CIS trends as well as being aware of creative ways to successfully address even the most complicated RFEs. For a review at no charge or obligation please go to www.cciFree.com and fill it out. Send the requested documents. I will personally get back to you within 24 hours. About the Author  Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.]]>

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